So You've Been Publicly Shamed
Jon Ronson
17 February 2022
9781529077254Synopsis
Celebrating Fifty Years of Picador Books
Jon Ronson's captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame.
‘It’s about the terror, isn’t it?’
‘The terror of what?’ I said.
‘The terror of being found out.’
The rise of social media has seen a great renaissance in public shaming. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with that voice? We are mercilessly finding people’s faults, and defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.
Simultaneously powerful and hilarious in the way only Jon Ronson can be, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it.
This edition features a new chapter and interview with perhaps the most famous public shaming victim of all – Monica Lewinsky.
Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.
He is such an exceptional writer . . . an incredibly funny writer . . . a perfect sense of comic timing throughout, but he manages to deal with profound subjects . . . so enjoyable . . . you can be having a laugh while understanding a social phenomenon in a completely unique way; it's such a great book . . . We're buying it!The BBC Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman
A magnificent book, subtly argued, often painfully funny and yet deeply serious. . . I'm not sure I can recommend it highly enoughDaily Mail
A work of original, inspired journalism, it considers the complex dynamics between those who shame and those who are shamed, both of whom can become the focus of social media's grotesque, disproportionate judgmentsLaurence Scott, Financial Times
